Louisiana Voice

It seems that I’ve been accused of being overly critical to the point of being caustic in my antagonism toward Donald Trump and Jeff Landry.

That charge is patently unfair. I’m every bit as critical of John Kennedy, Clay Higgins, Mike Johnson, Michael Lunsford and anyone else, even law enforcement (all of whom I find increasingly difficult to respect), if they take any position or action that tramples on anyone’s rights.

In the spirit of full disclosure, however, I have to say I was encouraged by Kennedy’s COMMENTS on Wednesday in which he disagreed, if somewhat mildly, with Trump who said Ukraine started the conflict with Russia. Kennedy even went to far as to say that Vladimir Putin “makes Jeffrey Dahmer look like Mother Theresa.”

My contempt is equal opportunity in every respect. District attorneys, judges, preachers and priests who abuse children, those who would limit the rights of women and minorities and those who assume they are free to destroy our democracy – whether they’re elected or not.

But insofar as my animosity towards Landry and Trump is concerned, I suppose I have to plead guilty. But gee, it comes so easily.

When a president calls the press the enemy of the people and when a governor (actually, he was attorney general at the time) sues an individual whose sin was making a legitimate request for public records, then yes, I’m gonna call them out. Every time.

Landry, by the way, LOST THAT LAWSUIT and was ordered to provide the records. But as soon as he removed his hand from the Bible after being sworn in as governor, he initiated efforts that, with the help of a malleable legislature, ultimately were successful in placing strict limitations on the access to public records.

I believe it was Lyndon Johnson who once said when you’re explaining, you’re losing. Could’ve been LBJ, could’ve been Truman, could’ve been any astute politician. Regardless, it seems Landry may have fallen into that trap over letters he received from elementary school students in Tangipahoa Parish.

The guv got his feathers all ruffled over the letters that addressed climate change, something that Landry perceives as a hoax (probably because Trump told him to think so). Anyhoo, Landry showed us in spades just how thin-skinned he really is when he WENT PUBIC WITH THE LETTERS, accusing the teacher of grooming, indoctrinating the children by pushing an agenda.

I always thought the best teachers were the ones who taught you to observe the world around you, to ask questions and to challenge injustices. But I guess that’s just me.

Funny, but I’m willing to bet he would not have reacted in such a manner if the letters had requested him to oppose litter on the state highways, or some other pressing issue like maybe requiring the LSU football and basketball teams to be present for the playing of the national anthem, or posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Talk about indoctrination…

Anyway, he surely was doing a lot of ‘splaining in his attack on that teacher.

There’s no way to prove it because he would never admit it, but I suspect his thumbprints are all over the Louisiana Public Service Commission’s vote to remove member Davante Lewis as vice chair. That was after Lewis, a gay black man, had the temerity to call Landry an a**hole after Landry created a social media post ridiculing former Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine by contrasting her with her successor, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Levine is the first openly transgender person to hold a federal government post requiring Senate confirmation. (I’m as straight as they come, but does anyone really think that Kennedy was a good choice to look after our healthcare?)

Given Landry’s reactions to criticism on the LSU campus, it would certainly follow a pattern of retribution by this governor against his critics.

So basically, what we have is a governor who considers himself free to hold people up to ridicule and scorn but that same freedom apparently does not extend to others.

At any rate, by a 3-2 vote, the PSC removed Lewis and replaced him with commission member ERIC SKRMETTA, who has his own POLITICAL BAGGAGE.

Before I even looked, I knew precisely how the vote had gone, who that second vote was who voted against the motion to replace Lewis.

The maverick on the commission is a man who has always voted his conscience, political considerations be damned. Foster Campbell, never one to knuckle under to political pressure, voted to support Lewis in opposition to member Mike Francis’s motion. I’m hesitant to praise any politician but truth be told, we could use a few more like Foster Campbell and a lot fewer like Jeff Landry, Clay Higgins, et al.

LOUISIANA ILLUMINATOR had this to say: “I’ve seen other things happen here that were just as bad,” Campbell said, recounting an incident in which he alleges Francis once stood behind him with a poster that said “Bull***t” while Campbell was speaking in front of a camera. Francis denied the allegations (and as Earl Long would’ve said, defied the alligators).

Normally, I would say that when it all comes crashing down, I’ll have the last laugh but I’m fearful there is nothing to laugh at when the very future of democracy is in peril.

So, to the critics, I guess I’m explaining myself but I am critical of political hypocrisy because I really find double standards somewhat distasteful.

If, by explaining myself, I’ve become a loser, so be it. But at least, I can hold my head high in the knowledge that my priorities are for the welfare of this country and my state, whereas Landry and Trump are mere political creatures who long ago ditched their principles and sold out to a political party.